1) SF Chronicle; September 10, 2004
CALIFORNIA: CITY CONFIRMS WORKERS' CHARGES; SLUG EMPLOYEES WERE COERCED TO VOTE FOR NEWSOM
by Ilene Lelchuk,
The nonprofit San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners illegally spent thousands of taxpayer dollars coercing its low-income workers to vote and campaign for Gavin Newsom during last year's mayoral race, a city attorney's investigation found.
A report summarizing the findings -- prepared by City Attorney Dennis Herrera's office in support of a city controller's decision to bar the nonprofit group from receiving future funding -- confirmed Chronicle reports of alleged abuses at the nonprofit organization.
The Chronicle reported in January that street-sweepers working for the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners in a city-funded employment training program were pressured to cast absentee ballots and walk precincts for the Newsom for Mayor campaign.
According to the city attorney's report, which The Chronicle obtained under the state Public Records Act, SLUG managers also "used threats and intimidation against employees in an apparent effort to discourage witnesses from coming forward," once Herrera's investigators began looking into the alleged abuses.
"SLUG was once a well-intentioned national model of an urban job training program," Herrera said Thursday about the group, which was founded in the early 1980s. "Obviously it's very sad and disappointing to see that promise undone by corruption and mismanagement. But that is exactly what we uncovered in two separate investigations."
Roger Gordon, president of SLUG's board of directors, announced earlier this week that SLUG would not appeal the city's decision to bar the organization from receiving city contracts for at least two years. On Thursday, Gordon said that he will not dispute the investigation's findings in the press but that he disagrees with how the investigation was conducted.
"The issue is not whether SLUG improperly participated in political activity," Gordon said. "It's whether the city controller (who made the final decision to bar SLUG from receiving contracts) was right in basing his decision on then-secret evidence and after hearing only one side of the argument."
"It was a comprehensive investigation," Herrera responded.
Newsom has said he had no knowledge of any misconduct related to SLUG's involvement with his campaign, and the city attorney's report makes no mention of wrongdoing by the Newsom for Mayor campaign.
The investigation was based on interviews with SLUG workers corroborated by other witnesses and SLUG documents. It concludes that the group, run at the time by Jonathan Gomwalk, directed employees to conduct more than 200 hours of political work last fall -- and then billed the city for it.
Such activity violates city laws against the use of city funds in political campaigns and federal tax laws barring tax-exempt nonprofit groups from engaging in political conduct, the report states.
After learning about the investigation report Thursday, former SLUG worker Antonia Perkins, a street cleaner for four months before she was laid off in December, said, "It feels good. They did believe me."
Perkins says that when she should have been cleaning streets, her SLUG managers took her to City Hall to vote, told her whom to vote for and then took her out to neighborhoods to hang campaign flyers on doors. "I didn't want to vote for Gavin Newsom. I wanted to vote for another person, Matt Gonzalez. But I wanted to get paid for that day."
According to the report, investigators found that:
-- On Sunday, Nov. 23, 2003, SLUG management directed certain employees to attend a mayoral candidates debate. Workers were paid overtime.
-- On about Dec. 2, 2003, SLUG management told its workers to attend a garage meeting at SLUG headquarters, where Gomwalk told them to vote for particular candidates for mayor and district attorney. They were told that if they didn't, they wouldn't get paid and SLUG would lose its city funding. Workers were driven to hear a district attorney candidate speech. SLUG workers separately told The Chronicle the candidate was Kamala Harris, who later won her race. Workers also were driven to City Hall to vote by absentee ballot. Workers told investigators they were threatened with loss of pay or work if they didn't vote as instructed. Two witnesses unrelated to SLUG confirmed this happened. SLUG workers were paid for that day.
-- On Dec. 5, 2003, a SLUG supervisor took another worker to City Hall to vote absentee. That employee also was paid for working that day.
-- On Dec. 9, 2003, the day of the runoff election in which Newsom would beat Gonzalez, SLUG management drove five of the workers to a mayoral candidate's campaign office in the Excelsior district, where they were instructed to help with a "get out the vote" campaign. SLUG workers have told The Chronicle that the candidate was Newsom. They walked neighborhoods, hung political advertisements on doors and checked voter rolls at the polls to see who hadn't voted yet. Then they went to those residents' homes to encourage them to vote. Workers said their pay for that day depended on their participation.
Gonzalez, after learning the results of the city investigation, said it made him wonder about the election he lost.
"You'll never really know who directed this to happen," he said.
Newsom's campaign manager, Eric Jaye, said there is "absolutely not" a connection.
2) Agence France Presse - English; September 10, 2004
SWEDEN: SWEDEN TO RAISE DEVELOPMENT AID TO 1.0 PERCENT OF GNP IN 2006
Stockholm -- Sweden will increase its development aid to one percent of its gross national product (GNP) in 2006, compared to 0.868 percent this year, the Social Democratic government said on Friday.
The decision was announced as part of a budget agreement reached Friday between the minority Social Democrats and their Left and Green Party allies, but was agreed upon as a goal in a 121-point programme outlined by the three parties following the 2002 general elections, a spokesman for the aid ministry told AFP.
Along with Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands, Sweden is one of the world's most generous development aid donors in terms of the percentage of its GNP that it allocates to the cause.
In 2004, Swedish development aid amounted to around 20 billion kronor (2.2 billion euros, 2.7 billion dollars).
3) The Washington Times; September 10, 2004
WASHINGTON D.C.: THIRD PARTIES SEEN AS THREAT TO BUSH
by Steve Miller
Lead Nader in access to ballots
Three third-party presidential candidates have ballot access in more states than Ralph Nader and pose as much, if not more, of a threat to President Bush than to Democratic contender Sen. John Kerry.
The Libertarian Party is now on the presidential ballot in 44 states and the Constitution Party in 35 states, both more than the 24 that Mr. Nader has managed amidst a concerted effort from state Democrats to thwart his bids.
The Green Party, on whose ticket Mr. Nader ran in 2000 and received 2.8 million votes, is now on the ballot in 28 states.
The Libertarian and Constitution parties appeal to disenchanted conservatives who are fed up with the president's stance on immigration, too permissive in those quarters, or his coziness with centrist Republicans like Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter.
"We are playing to the conservatives who do not have a party to vote for," said Libertarian presidential hopeful Michael Badnarik. "For example, Republicans have traditionally stood for smaller government, but this president has not adhered to that standard."
The Bush bolstering of the so-called war on drugs, the Patriot Act and the proposed constitutional amendment to ban homosexual "marriage" are all at odds with the Libertarian party line.
Accordingly, Mr. Badnarik has appeared in homosexual-rights parades, has called the move to combat in Iraq a venture based on "fairy tales" and said that "the war on drugs is more of a threat to our liberties than drugs themselves."
And he has done so unfettered by Republicans, even when a recent poll in New Mexico found him earning the nod from 5 percent of voters.
Republicans, even while getting savaged by erstwhile ideological competitors, have distanced themselves from any action to prevent third parties from the ballot, while Democrats have moved in several states against Mr. Nader, who has been admonished by Democratic officials from top to bottom for his entry into the race.
Not that Republicans wouldn't make political hay of the situation.
"The difference between the parties is the Republican believe voters have a right to cast ballots for anyone who is on the ballot, whereas Democrats are engaged in an effort of intimidation to prevent Ralph Nader from being on the ballot," said Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson. "Republicans are confident they can win no matter who is on the ballot."
Conservative talk-show host Pat Buchanan, appearing on "Hardball" on Tuesday night, noted to host Chris Matthews that given his disagreements with Bush policy, would still vote for the president, but "there is a chance I might vote for Peroutka ..."
Mr. Matthews' reply was "Who? "
Exactly, but Michael Peroutka, a Maryland lawyer, is the Constitution Party's presidential candidate, a man who seeks to draw the votes of the religious right, among others.
His campaign has run ads in Mr. Buchanan's magazine, the American Conservative, and is preparing ads criticizing the president for not backing former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who last year placed a Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building. Mr. Moore was subsequently removed from the bench for his action.
"We do disagree with some Bush policies," Mr. Peroutka said. "He is the man that so many people look to and he claims to be a Christian. I don't judge his heart, but there are things he could do, for example, as far as abortion and he simply hasn't. We question whether the commitment is there."
Mr. Peroutka is a wealthy man who stands to make a mark on the president's vote share, said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, which tracks the access of third-party candidates.
Further, Mr. Winger added, the Democrats stumbled when they spent so much money trying to keep Mr. Nader out of the race and ignored Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb.
"The conventional wisdom is that Cobb hurts Kerry," Mr. Winger said. "But the Democrats haven't done anything to hurt the Green Party, even though Cobb will be on as many ballots as Nader."
4) Agence France Presse - English; September 9, 2004
NEW ZEALAND: ROW OVER DIOXIN EXPOSURE FROM CHEMICAL PLANT IN NEW ZEALAND
Wellington -- New Zealand's government faced calls Friday to give free medical treatment and counselling to people found to have been exposed to dioxin emissions from an insecticide plant north of the capital.
Green Party politician Sue Kedgley said the government should go after the plant's owner, US headquartered Dow AgroSciences.
"It shouldn't be the taxpayer picking up the bill. It should be Dow," she told Radio New Zealand.
The plant in New Plymouth, on the North Island's West Coast, made the pesticide 2,4,5-T from 1960 until the 1980s at the plant.
The Health Ministry revealed Thursday that tests showed some long-term residents in the New Plymouth suburb of Paritutu had a higher than normal level of dioxin in their blood.
Dioxin was an unwanted by-product in manufacturing and is a recognised cancer causing chemical.
Kedgley said after 30 years of denial and procrastination it was time for the government to take real action including counselling, medical treatment and compensation.
"I don't think many people will feel reassured when they have a known carcinogen at elevated levels in their blood," she said.
Acting Director of Public Health Doug Lush said in a statement the results were so far only interim, and another 20 people would be tested in the second stage of the study.
Dow AgroSciences New Zealand manager Peter Dryden said the firm would continue to cooperate with the authorities.
"The interim study itself concludes that the issues under review do not relate to current operations," he said.
5) BBC Monitoring South Asia - Political; September 9, 2004
AFGANISTAN AFGHAN GOVERNOR, FRENCH OFFICIAL DISCUSS GREEN ISSUES
Balkh TV, Mazar-e Sharif, in Dari 1600 gmt 8 Sep 04
Text of report by Afghan Balkh Province television on 8 September
Atta Mohammad Nur, the governor of Balkh Province, received Brice Lalonde, a leader of a French green party he is founder of the Generation Ecologie environmental organization and former French environment minister . Atta Mohammad began the meeting by welcoming the delegation.
For his part, the French official expressed gratitude for the warm reception and said the following about his visit to Mazar-e Sharif: "Our party is interested in a better environment and aims to preserve the forests and water resources all over the world. Afghanistan has faced two decades of war. The jungles and water resources of Afghanistan suffered from the destructive war, which also affected the environment in Afghanistan.
"We have come to study what we can do here. For the time being, we are rebuilding Isteqlal high school in Kabul and providing it with a modern laboratory. We are trying to restore the forests in Samangan Province , where lots of pistachio trees grow in the mountains.
Atta Mohammad Nur thanked the French party for its plans and expressed hope that his country could overcome problems with the steady efforts and assistance of the international community. He also voiced hope that the world community would help the Afghans restore forests and water resources and fight poverty in Afghanistan.
Video shows the meeting
6) The Irish Times; September 9, 2004
IRELAND: MILLTOWN PLAN RESULTS IN 21 APPEALS
by Edel Morgan
A proposal to build 92 apartments at Scully's Field in Milltown , Dublin 6 - as well as a new pedestrian bridge across the River Dodder and a riverside space - has attracted widespread criticism from local political, residential and environmental groups.
An Bord Pleanala received 21 appeals in response to a planning permission granted by Dublin City Council to McGarrell O'Reilly developers for the development.
The appellants include the Green Party, the Irish Wildlife Trust, the Dodder Angler's Club, three residents associations, Scully's Field River Park Action Group and a number of residents groups and local individuals, mostly living at Ramleh Park.
One resident of Ramleh Park described the "proposal to discharge surface water into the Dodder" as "a most startling proposal.
The Dodder with its linear parks is an amenity enjoyed by a huge number of people and it is simply not right to use it as a storm water sewer."
The Irish Wildlife Trust said the development would result in a loss of riverine and riverbank habitat which would disturb species of plant, insect, bird and mammal.
Concern was expressed by one resident of Ramleh Park over the loss of "legally established rights of way" to Scully's Field by a number of house owners in the estate and the loss of mature deciduous trees on the site...
...The Green Party said the claim by the developers that 70 per cent of the site is public open space "is open to question", and appears to include the escarpment slopes and areas already open to the public, including the riverside walk and western and eastern ends of the site. The local angler's club emphasised the importance of the Dodder as a wild brown trout fishery.
7) North Devon Journal; September 9, 2004
ENGLAND: TEACHER AND ACTIVIST CHOSEN BY GREEN PARTY
Teacher and peace activist Richard Knight has been chosen by the North Devon Green Party as its prospective parliamentary candidate. Richard - known as Ricky - serves as a councillor for Newport on Barnstaple Town Council and is vice-chairman of its environment committee.
He came to local prominence early last year when he organised a peace camp on the Square in Barnstaple against the war in Iraq.
He was also instrumental in taking the protest to London.
Eight coach-loads of people went from North Devon to take part in the demonstration in the capital in February last year.
For 30 years Ricky has lived in Bishops Tawton with his wife L'Anne. And his two children, both now adults, were educated at local schools.
His father, Denis, and brother, Stephen, run the family photographic business, R L Knight.
And for 20 years Ricky has taught modern languages at Pilton Community College in Barnstaple.
A long-standing member of the Green Party, he feels the country faces some difficult issues in the near future on energy, global warming and climate change.
The recent flooding in Boscastle, he believes, illustrates the unpredictability of the climate due to global warming.
He supports renewable energy in all its forms and will continue to oppose the Iraq War.
8) Agence France Presse - English; September 8, 2004
FRANCE: FRENCH MAYOR REFUSES TO PERFORM GAY WEDDING
Paris -- The mayor of a Paris suburb on Wednesday refused to celebrate what would have been France's second gay marriage, accusing Greens party members of pressuring city officials to approve the union.
Marc Everbecq, the Communist mayor of Bagnolet east of Paris, said in a statement that two men accompanied by Greens party faithful had "put strong pressure on civil servants" to accept their request for a marriage license.
"I condemn what looks like an unacceptable power play and I fully support the civil servants who felt like they were being forced to provoke the authorities," the mayor said.
"The city of Bagnolet will not perform an illegal marriage," Everbecq said, adding that he would alert public prosecutors and the two men concerned that the marriage was off.
France's first gay marriage, performed in June in the southwest town of Begles by leading Greens member Noel Mamere, was declared null and void by a Bordeaux court in July.
Mamere was suspended from his municipal post for a month for defying a government order to drop the wedding.
In Bagnolet, an official proclamation about the gay marriage of Mehdi Adem and Christophe Provot was posted on city hall billboards, but without a date for the ceremony, an AFP correspondent saw.
Contacted by telephone, Greens officials in Bagnolet denied they had pressured city workers to approve the marriage.
9) Associated Press Worldstream; September 8, 2004
AUSTRALIA: GREENS EXPECTED TO WIELD UNPRECEDENTED POWER IN AUSTRALIAN ELECTIONS
by Rod McGuirk
Canberra, Australia -- Is green the new red in Australia's election campaign?
The government wants voters to think so, likening the increasingly popular Greens party to communists.
"This idea that they're some warm, nice, midway house between the coalition (government) and the Labor Party overlooks the fact that they're a home for the people who in the 1950s would have joined the Communist Party," deputy Prime Minister John Anderson said this week while campaigning ahead of the Oct. 9 election.
"They are watermelons - many of them green on the outside and very, very red on the inside," he said.
The Greens' popularity has soared over the last three years on their campaigns to halt logging of old growth forests and to wean Australia's industries off fossil fuels, as well as their opposition to the war in Iraq.
But Prime Minister John Howard has branded the Greens "very, very kooky," and his government says they have a hidden agenda to legalize recreational drugs and state funding for sex change surgery, and to introduce economically ruinous taxes.
Greens leader Sen. Bob Brown dismisses the communist tag as a lame attempt to discredit his party.
"The Greens under the bed thing reacts against the government, not against us," he said. "They're very silly because we've got a well-educated electorate who's likely to roll its eyes up and say, 'I'll vote Green if that's the best John Anderson can do."'
Brown says he's never been subjected to such a hostile onslaught from the ruling Liberal Party-Nationals coalition. He regards it as a measure of the threat he poses to the coalition's support.
Pollsters put support for the Greens at a record 8 percent, up from 5 percent in the 2001 election.
They have only one seat in the 150-seat House of Representatives, where Australia's governments are formed.
Brown hopes to snare just two more seats in the election. But if neither the coalition nor the Labor Party opposition win an absolute majority, the Greens could hold the balance of power.
If that happens, they'd be likely to side with center-left Labor to form a minority government.
Even if the Greens fail to win a single seat in the House of Representatives, their votes are expected to boost Labor's prospects.
Under Australia's preferential voting system, which delivers minor parties' votes to either government or Labor candidates, Greens voters tend to opt for their ballots to go to Labor.
More bad news looms for the government in the upper house, the Senate, where a proportional voting systems gives minor parties and independent candidates better chances of getting seats.
Brown and Kerry Nettle are the only Greens in a 76-seat Senate, where governments rarely hold a majority - but he expects the Greens to win up to six Senate seats, giving the party unprecedented power in a chamber that must approve all laws passed by the House of Representatives.
The Howard government's environmental credentials are perceived as a weak as the country approaches one of its closest elections in decades. Australia is one of few countries that has refused to ratify the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gas emissions. It's also the world's biggest coal exporter, and its heavy industry relies on fossil fuels.
Brown said his party's strength is not just due to its environmental stance. He has also been one of the most vocal critics of Howard's decision to send troops to Iraq.
"I get feedback from both (major) parties, and the Iraq war has upset a lot of older people who lived through the Second World War and Vietnam and Korea," Brown said.
Younger voters were attracted by the Greens' policies of free university education, recognition for same-sex marriages and an end to logging of ancient forests in Tasmania state, Brown said.
Howard may find the Greens "kooky," but he seems to be listening to them.
This week he proposed a plan that would safeguard Tasmanian forests while helping communities that rely on the timber industry.
Labor leader Mark Latham has said he will implement a similar policy if he wins the election.
Brown described the logging policies as "the litmus test on the environment in Australia because it's so urgent - 150,000 log trucks going to wood chip mills this year - an unprecedented rate of destruction."
10) CTK National News Wire; September 8, 2004
CZECH REPUBLIC: GREENS HOPE TO END INTERNAL DISPUTES AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
by VV
Prague -- The Green Party national conference which will take place in Olomouc, north Moravia, at the weekend is expected to put an end to the long-lasting internal disputes in the party.
Following its failure in the elections to the European Parliament, about 250 delegates will elect the new party leadership at the conference. Current party chairman Jan Beranek will defend his post against his only opponent Petr Stepanek, a member of the Prague City Hall and the coordinator of civil associations.
The new leadership will be elected by the Greens in an extraordinary date, a year and a half after their Brno conference at which the Green Party founding members left the leadership.
Last year, the Greens set the task to change the image of the party, attract new members and gain seats in the European Parliament. In the latest parliamentary elections, the Green Party only gained 2.36 percent of the vote and its position has not improved, despite expectations, in the June Euro-elections as it only received 0.8 percent of the vote.
According to many observers, internal party disputes which began at an extraordinary conference in Tabor, south Bohemia, last year, did not help the party. Beranek, together with editor- in-chief of the Literarny noviny weekly Jakub Patocka, had the political programme of the party approved at the conference regardless of disagreement of many party members.
The opponents of the Beranek-Patocka tandem has formed the 'Open Platform' when Patocka became the leader of the Green Party list of candidates for the European Parliament. They disagreed with the first four places on the list being filled on a different principle than the rest and with the refusal from the pre-election cooperation with the Party for an Open Society.
In the following months, the platform, represented, for instance, by public affairs commentator Petr Uhl and former environment minister Ivan Dejmal, accused Beranek and Patocka of authoritative methods.
Party deputy chairmen Ondrej Liska and Dalibor Strasky left the leadership in the tense internal party atmosphere.
Shortly before the European elections, certain members of the 'Open Platform' publicly supported persons on the list of candidates for the Party for an Open Society, and not the candidates from their own party.
Patocka's critic Milan Horacek, who ran for the European Parliament for the Greens in Germany has thus become the only MEP for the Czech Greens.
Following its failure in the Euro-elections, Beranek yielded to the demand for the call of a new conference as without the leadership consent the 'Open Platform' was unable to convene it as it has failed to gain support of the regional organisations.
Beranek and Stepanek spent the summer recess collecting votes in regions.
Stepanek intends to open the party to wider cooperation with other parties and civic associations and he also wants to introduce strict criteria for the choice of candidates in branch organisations to prevent disputes similar to that which accompanied Patocka's candidature.
He said he would like to take the Greens to the Chamber of Deputies in 2006 and wants the list of candidates to be headed by former environment minister Martin Bursik.
Beranek said that by defending his post he wants to strengthen the party before the next parliamentary elections.
11) European Report; September 8, 2004
THE NETHERLANDS: AGRICULTURE: DUTCH PRESIDENCY CONCILIATORY ABOUT GM-SEEDS ISSUE
Proposing that standard maize and colza seeds may contain up to 0.3% of transgenic seeds without the content having to be mentioned, the draft Directive marks a climb-down from the previous version, which recommended 0.5% for potatoes, beet and cotton. However, it continues to be challenged by the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements IFOAM), by Coldiretti (the main Italian farmers' federation), Green MEPs and Greenpeace members. The environmentalists believe that faced with a limit of 0.3%, farmers and the agri-foodstuffs industry will be hard put to avoid their finished products containing no more than 0.9% of GMOs. Above this level, consumers have to notified about the GM content.
Opponents of the draft Directive were given the support, in Noordwijk, of the German Farm Minister, Renate Kuenast (German Green Party), who sees a need to protect farmers anxious to continue growing crops with standard seeds. A champion of the lowest possible ceiling, the Minister urges a 0.1% maximum permissible content of GMOs....
...Green MEPs in the European Parliament have once again called on the Commission to review its draft Directive, arguing that the text "runs counter to the opinion adopted in December 2003 by the European Parliament, which called for the threshold to be set at minimum detection levels". The scientific consensus is that this minimum detection threshold is 0.1%. Green MEPs are particularly determined the Commission should abide by Parliament's wishes in that the Assembly will have no say on the final adoption of the text.
Only national governments in the Member States would be likely to have the chance to amend the draft legislation due to be tabled on September 8 by the EU executive. Recalling the Commission's promise of guarantees on the controversial issue of co-existence between genetically-modified crops and non-GMOs, as well as genuine freedom of choice for farmers and consumers alike, the Greens argue that the draft Directive "will betray conventional organic farmers".
12) The Press (Christchurch, New Zealand); September 8, 2004
NEW ZEALAND: BUSINESSWOMEN RACE FOR TOP JOB
by Paul Gorman
Two very different southern businesswomen are competing to win Dunedin's mayoral chains in next month's local body elections. Paul Gorman meets them.
Cr Teresa Stevenson stirs her hot chocolate in one of Dunedin's trendy Octagon cafes, sits back and confides that she mustn't forget to pay today.
"I've walked out of here before without paying, but they're very understanding."
Not more than a couple of hundred metres away inside the heart of the Dunedin City Council (DCC), the city's grand Municipal Chambers, Cr Leah McBey, self-defence instructor and former business journalist, public relations worker and Green Party candidate, sets her tape recorder going. She has already questioned how BusinessDay got hold of her cellphone number and asks if there are any objections to her taping the interview.
"(It's) not as a check on you, it's for my ... there might be something from here I can lift out and ..."
Put simply, if she hears herself saying something brilliant on tape, she wants to be able to use it in her mayoral campaign.
McBey and Stevenson are aiming for the top job being left vacant after nine years by Sukhi Turner....
...The earnest McBey, 50, is a very different character. Serving her second term on the council, the former Treasury employee has a special interest in sustainable economics and employment creation, is an expert in tax law and tax avoidance, founded the city's first micro- lending scheme for women, The Angel Fund, and was also founding member of the Ethical Investment Network of Aotearoa.
While Stevenson has six years on McBey in terms of council experience, McBey has a broader political background and is probably the shrewder operator, given she fought two general elections as an Alliance candidate in the Dunedin South seat against Labour's Dr Michael Cullen.
Another solid Dunedinite, McBey's family includes elder sister and Governor- General Dame Silvia Cartwright. Her academic qualifications include a degree in German language and literature from Otago University and economics study at Massey University.
Both Stevenson and McBey classify themselves as fiscally conservative -- "fiscally very conservative" in McBey's case -- and while Stevenson is happy to say she is left-wing, McBey hedges about where she fits....
...The author of the booklet, Leah McBey's town plan -- An economic anti- depressant, says her business and financial background stands her in good stead for the mayoralty. She cites her expertise in sustainable business practice and points to the fact she has been chairwoman of the council's finance and strategy committee for the two terms she has been a councillor and deputy chairwoman of the economic development committee.
"I've had the oversight of the city's budgeting and have a very firm grasp of issues round rates, income, depreciation, investments etc. Plus the long-term strategy.
"My vision is for a thriving city with a flourishing community, a prosperous citizenry and a beautiful and healthy environment in every sense of the word."
McBey says politically she is most interested in small to medium sized enterprises and is well aware of the major role they play in the local economy.
She is also a strong supporter of the city's long-established and cornerstone businesses, such as Cadbury Confectionery and Fisher and Paykel Appliances, believing in the value of rates relief. She has consistently supported the council's stance on that for Fisher and Paykel Appliances' Taieri plant.
McBey says the issue of rates relief appears to have become "more a moral business than a financial one" and that very often the amount of money involved is quite small.
"What most (businesses) seem to want is the city council actively supporting them, saying, 'You're doing really well, we value you, we value what you're doing'. Rates relief is a symbol of that support."
13) The Australian; September 7, 2004
AUSTRALIA: ATTACKS ON BROWN WON'T FOOL VOTERS
by James Norman
Don't believe the anti-Green campaign fearmongering, suggests James Norman
The 16th-century Italian political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli frequently expressed the sentiment: "If you want to change the world, prepare to feel the full force of the reaction against you from those that have the most to lose."
The admonition goes some way to explaining why the Howard Government and segments of the media are doing their best to demonise the Australian Greens in the early stages of the official federal election campaign. The gloves are off, the knives are out, and the first and vicious attacks of the election campaign have been pitched squarely at the policies of the Greens and party leader Bob Brown.
The incendiary claims circulating include assertions that the Greens support illegal drugs, have an open-door policy to all asylum-seekers, aim to strip farmers of their land, plan to force the public to eat less meat and support unemployment benefits without having to seek work. It reflects the utmost contempt for the 1 million plus Australians predicted to vote for the Greens at this election, to suppose the thinking public would be hoodwinked by such blatant fearmongering when even a cursory glance at the Greens' policy documents reveal the claims to be utter hogwash and spin.
Start with illegal drugs. Brown has made it clear on many occasions that he does not support banned drugs being made freely available to young people but he does subscribe to the "harm minimisation" view that medically controlled access to drugs reduces the damage of these drugs to the user and wider society. The Australian Federal Police, the Australian Medical Association and most state governments also advocate a harm minimisation approach. For the Greens, drugs should be viewed as a health and social issue, not treated purely as a criminal matter.
Another common charge is that the Greens would offer "unemployment benefits without having to seek work". Bear in mind that Brown has never been on the dole, even throughout his years in the Franklin campaign when he gave up his doctor's wages to lead the campaign to save the Franklin river. The Greens are advocates of personal self-determination, with the guaranteed safety net of government support to those in real need.
Then there's the issue of asylum-seekers. The Greens favour the view that refugees should be treated in accordance with basic human rights. They support the overhaul of Australia's detention centers, favouring secure reception centres where refugees can be medically assessed to ensure they pose no health or security risk. It is a humane approach to the global refugee crisis, similar to the view of the UN, and does not equate to an open-door policy for all asylum-seekers.
The claim that the Greens would seek to drive farmers off their land is blatant fearmongering. Brown grew up in the bush in central NSW and the Greens will work with the farming community towards implementing more sustainable farming practices across the board. As the Greens know, Australia's farmers are often its leading environmentalists. And just for the record, Brown is a meat eater.
And finally, taxation and economic policy. As John Quiggin, an economist at the University of Queensland and regular contributor to The Australian Financial Review, has argued: "Anyone who decides to vote for the Greens on the strength of their support for the environment and opposition to war should be encouraged to know that they are also choosing a party with a policy that is economically as well as socially responsible." It is not radical economic policy to advocate an environmental bottom line -- it is globally responsible and forward thinking.
In the lead-up to the October 7 poll, support for the Greens is surging nationally. The balance of power in the senate and the inner-city House of Representatives seats of Melbourne and Sydney are within the party's grasp. Advocates of democracy should welcome the Greens surge as a broadening of the political landscape, a welcome respite from the shackles of the two-party system.
What commentators have missed is the international lessons the Greens have learned and the international influence the Australian Green movement can unleash. We have seen Green parties share coalition government in Germany and New Zealand -- such a scenario is not untested.
Czech writer Milan Kundera once wrote: "The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." How quickly some have branded Brown a "dangerous fanatic" and the Greens' policies "pure moon juice". Never mind that it is the same Bob Brown that this newspaper named Australian of the Year in 1983 while he sat in a prison cell among other Franklin Dam protesters at Risdon Goal. And it is the same politician The Sunday Age named Australian of the Decade in 1990. But, in politics, those with their hands on power often seek to exploit the capacity of the public to forget.
James Norman is author of Bob Brown: Gentle Revolutionary (Allen & Unwin), published nationally on October 8.
14) Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia); September 7, 2004
AUSTRALIA: 'WATERMELONS' THE WINNERS FROM DEMS' IMPLOSION
by Peter Gleeson
ELECTION DIARY
Day 9
Their critics call them watermelons - green on the outside but when you open them right up there are some 'red' policies inside.
They are the Greens Party, the likely big winners out of the self-implosion which has beset the Democrats.
The Greens' Queensland Senate contender, Drew Hutton, was in town yesterday, talking up his party's prospects on October 9.
He believes the Greens can win a Senate seat in every state in the country, as well as the ACT.
Mr Hutton also believes they can win 'three or four' House of Representative seats.
It's a big call, but the Greens believe they will never have a better chance of reaping reward from the seeds of public discontent for the two major parties.
Yesterday, on the Southport foreshore, Mr Hutton was singing a tune aimed squarely at Gold Coast voters.
He says the Greens are offering a way out for the Gold Coast, which is 'bedevilled by the down-side of growth'.
He said the Greens had answers to power blackouts, traffic congestion, water shortages, unemployment, poor health and education services and the loss of green space.
The Greens are proposing a Renew Australia program that will raise $35 billion over 10 years for infrastructure development.
The money will be channelled directly into improved transport, energy and water efficiency, and waste management.
The Greens say the money will only be available for infrastructure development that meets the criteria for sustainable development.
And the way it will be funded?
The Greens propose that the company tax be increased from 30 per cent to 33 per cent - the same level it was before Mr Howard reduced it by 3 per cent in 1996.
It's a bold initiative and would certainly be opposed by business.
But the Greens say they have never been stronger. They are standing former mayoral candidate Ian Latto in McPherson and Mike Beale in Moncrieff.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Mark Latham is taunting the Prime Minister over the televised leaders' debate. Mr Latham yesterday challenged John Howard to an old-fashioned town-hall style debate in Bundaberg on Thursday.
Mr Latham has chosen the Queensland town for his first community forum of the campaign.
He held a series of similar forums around the country shortly after becoming Opposition Leader late last year, drawing hundreds of people to the meeting.
Mr Latham is disappointed with Mr Howard's move to have the television debate in front of a panel of journalists on Sunday night instead of a single adjudicator.
Mr Latham said Mr Howard should have a 'fair dinkum debate' with him in front of a crowd.
"I think we need more of that grassroots democracy and it is not too late for the Prime Minister to join in the seat of Hinkler for
our community forum debate," said Mr Latham.
"If he won't face me head to head, toe to toe in a fair dinkum debate, at least come along on Thursday and have a debate with the good people of Hinkler."
Meanwhile, the Nationals pledged that a re-elected Coalition government would contribute $115 million to the cost of the Pacific Highway bypass around Ballina.
Campaigning in the marginal Nationals seat of Page, held by Ian Causley by just over 2 per cent, The Nationals said the remaining 50 per cent of the $230 million cost of the bypass needed to come from the NSW Government.
He said the bypass would improve safety and reduce congestion.
15) The Irish Times; September 7, 2004
IRELAND: LABOUR SAYS BURKE WAS LUCKY NOT TO BE ORDERED TO PAY ADDITIONAL COSTS
by Mark Brennock
Labour and the Green Party yesterday welcomed the decision of the Mahon Tribunal not to pay the legal costs of Mr Ray Burke.
Labour Party Justice spokesman Mr Joe Costello said Mr Burke was lucky not to have been ordered to pay the additional costs he had imposed on the tribunal by his behaviour.
Mr Costello said that the EUR 10.5 million bill that had been submitted by Mr Burke was "outrageous". It had accounted for more than half of all notified costs "and a large measure of confidence will be restored in the entire tribunal now that the public is not saddled with this bill".
He said that Judge Alan Mahon had pointed out that the conclusions of Mr Justice Flood had been reinforced: "Ray Burke set out to mislead the tribunal and failed to co-operate with it. In this context, the fact that Ray Burke has been refused State funding for his legal costs is welcome."
The Green Party's planning spokesman, Mr Ciaran Cuffe, said that 15 years ago, Mr Burke received tens of thousands of pounds in donations from builders. "At the same time the then taoiseach, Mr Haughey, was saying that we were living beyond our means. According to Judge Mahon, Ray Burke 'obstructed and hindered' the tribunal. It is therefore only right that he suffer the consequences," he said.
It was now time to introduce "more sensible fees" for the legal teams at the tribunals. "The tribunals have become a 'gravy train' for many. The Government should introduce more meaningful legal fees with immediate effect, rather than waiting up to two years before allowing sanity to prevail in the determination of fees."
16) Marin Independent Journal (Marin, CA); September 7, 2004
CALIFORNIA: FAIRFAX IS GOING GREEN
By Richard Halstead, IJ reporter<p>
Party claims 8% of town's voters
Eat your heart out, Berkeley and San Francisco - Fairfax has been rated the Greenest municipality in the Bay Area.
According to the Berkeley-based Center for Voting Research, Fairfax has a higher percentage of registered Green Party voters than any other city or county in the Bay Area. About 8 percent of Fairfax's 4,961 registered voters belong to the Green Party.
"It doesn't surprise me - people in the area are very environmentally conscious," said Green Party member Larry Bragman, one of two Green Party members serving on the Fairfax Town Council.
The council's other Green Party member, Lew Tremaine, also took the news in stride. "It's not surprising that Fairfax would have that ranking. We have a very active Greens group" that launched a concerted registration drive almost a decade ago, he said.
"This didn't just all happen magically," Tremaine added.
Other areas of Marin also ranked high in Voting Research's survey. San Anselmo came in seventh with 3.8 percent of its voters registered Green and Marin County's unincorporated area ranked ninth at 3.5 percent Green.
The Bay Area's 10 Greenest in descending order: Fairfax, Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville, unincorporated area of Sonoma County, San Anselmo, Cotati, unincorporated areas of Marin County and Oakland.
San Francisco - where Green mayoral candidate Matt Gonzalez attracted national attention - finished 11th, with 3.4 percent of its voters registered Green.
"The Green Party has made tremendous gains in the Bay Area in the last five years," said Jason Alderman, who co-founded Voting Research earlier this year to give people a better understanding of the political winds buffeting the Bay Area.
"The Bay Area's fervent support for the environment and progressive political bent has created a fertile breeding ground for the Green Party," Alderman said.
Green Party registration in the Bay Area grew 52 percent during the past five years - from 38,508 in 1999 to 58,597 in 2004 - Alderman said.
"If you compare the platforms of the parties, the Green Party's platform isn't just a good platform, it's an inspiring platform," Alderman said.
"I just think a lot of people are looking for a political party that is committed on a fundamental level to real environmental policies," he said. "The Democrats are far better than the Republicans, but they're sort of tacking back and forth between their base constituency and their contributors. The Green Party isn't."
Bragman said he is supporting Democratic candidate John Kerry's bid for the presidency, not the Green Party's candidate, David Cobb. "I just feel it's so monumental a decision," Bragman said. "I'm very, very worried about another four years of the Bush administration."
Bragman said that when he and Tremaine attended the Green Party's national convention in June, they both lobbied against nominating a Green Party candidate for president.
"The future of the Green Party is building up an organization of local officials and then slowly building a party apparatus of trained people that can climb up the political ladder," Bragman said. "The Green Party's concentration on a presidential candidate was somewhat of a vanity production - it really didn't accomplish that much."
Bragman said he had no sympathy for Ralph Nader's recent bid to get his name on the California ballot as the Green candidate. Nader failed to gather enough signatures to get on the Nov. 2 ballot in California.
Alderman also believes the Greens need to focus attention at the local level.
"If these 'L.L. Bean Greens' can convince practically minded liberals that they have the ability to run governments in a sensible and progressive way, a new wave of Green mayors, city council members and county supervisors will emerge within the Bay Area," Alderman said.
Fairfax Councilman Mike Ghiringhelli, who describes himself as moderately conservative in the Arnold Schwarzenegger mold, says he won't be joining the Green Party any time soon.
"I think the Green Party is already well-represented in Fairfax," Ghiringhelli said. But he added, "Most everyone I know in the Green Party I like. I don't care if they're green, red, white or blue.
"It's the person that matters to me."
17) Agence France Presse - English; September 6, 2004 Monday
GERMANY: SCHROEDER PARTY VOWS NOT TO BUCKLE ON REFORMS DESPITE ELECTION DEBACLE
Berlin -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's party vowed Monday to press on with its tough economic reform drive, despite a fresh state election rout that spelled trouble for a string of further polls this month.
The Social Democrats (SPD) suffered their worst loss in 44 years in the tiny southwestern state of Saarland Sunday, sinking to just 30.8 percent of the vote and allowing the Christian Democrats (CDU) to bolster their absolute majority.
"This is the comeuppance for the failure of Red-Green in Berlin," Saarland premier Peter Mueller told reporters Monday, referring to the colors of the ruling SPD and Greens party.
Mueller, a CDU centrist, scored a spectacular 47.5 percent of the vote, while the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats made gains to squeak past the five-percent hurdle for representation in the state legislature....
18) Derby Evening Telegraph; September 6, 2004
ENGLAND: TRIBUTES PAID TO A 'ONE-OFF'
by Aly Walsh
A Derby Green campaigner, counsellor and author, described as 'a one-off', has died at the age of 65. Eric Wall, of Arboretum Street, Derby, died on Thursday, August 26, after suffering a stroke....
...He was also very passionate about his political work and was a firm believer in Green Party principles.
He stood three times for a parliamentary seat as a Green candidate - for Derby South in June 1983 and Derby North in June 1987 and April 1992.
In June 1989, he stood for a seat in the European Parliament and, although he was unsuccessful, received an impressive 20,781 votes.
The Rev Canon Donald Macdonald, of St Osmund's Church, in London Road, who is a member of Derby's Green Party, said Mr Wall was an inspiration to him. He said: "He really tried to get the Green Party act together in Derby and he put a lot of energy and effort into it. He was a quiet and gentle man and wasn't naturally an upfront person, but he did his best to galvanise the group and got people working together." Mr Wall's burial will take place today at Nottingham Road Cemetery at 1pm, followed by a service at the Quaker Meeting House, in St Helen's Street, Derby, at 2.30pm.
19) The Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); September 6, 2004
NEW ZEALAND: CHAIN STORES MAKE LIFE HARD FOR SMALL RETAILERS
by Anna Jaquiery
Concern is mounting that some New Zealand towns are in danger of losing their character because chain stores such as the Warehouse and Pak 'N' Save are making it impossible for small retailers to stay afloat.
"Our communities are becoming increasingly homogeneous," Green Party MP Mike Ward said. "That loss of local identity has real implications for the quality of our own life, and also for people visiting New Zealand."...
20) The Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); September 6, 2004
NEW ZEALAND: FINGER-POINTING STARTS OVER FUNDING
by Tracy Watkins
Finger-Pointing over how parties are spending millions of dollars of taxpayer funding for self promotion has begun as a probe by the auditor-general gets under way.
Even before the Audit Office has had an opportunity to interview party leaders in preparation for its report into the scope of government and parliamentary advertising, political rivals are preparing to dob each other in.
National is claiming further abuse of the rules by the Government and has complained about another pamphlet targeting older New Zealanders and funded by the Labour leader's budget.
But the Green Party is preparing to lodge its own complaint against National, after the party sent out a questionnaire asking people to send them their voting preferences on a freepost envelope. Because anyone can write to Parliament for free, the postage bill is picked up by taxpayers.
"They send out pseudo surveys, ask you questions on half a dozen issues, then ask you which party you support and it's exploiting the freepost system," Green Party co-leader Rod Donald said. "I'm certainly not saying that people in glasshouses shouldn't throw stones because I think we've all got to improve our act when it comes to how we use taxpayers' money. But I am saying that (National Party leader) Don Brash needs to live up to his own expectations."
Asked about the Green Party's complaint, National MP Murray McCully pointed his finger at how the minor party was using the superannuation and allowance system.
The Green Party has been using the MPs' super fund to accumulate property for years. It rents the properties back to MPs at market rates and claims some of it back in accommodation allowances....
21) Frankston Standard Leader (Australia); September 6, 2004
AUSTRALIA: FOUR TO CHALLENGE BILLSON
At least four political parties will try to oust Liberal MP for Dunkley Bruce Billson in the federal election on October 9....
...The Greens Party is expected to influence many Australian seats with its preferences, and it will be represented in Dunkley by postal worker Paula Johnson, of Seaford.
Her Greens predecessor, Henry Kelsall, scored 5.7 per cent of the primary vote three years ago....
22) Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA); September 5, 2004
IOWA: FREEDOM PARTY INCLUDES ALL; REPUBLICANS, GREENS, SOCIALISTS AND DEMOCRATS EXTOL FREEDOM'S VIRTUES
by Mary Nevans Pederson
Dubuque -- They sang and spoke about freedom - its importance, its enemies, its implications - Saturday at Freedom Festival 2004.
Musicians and political speakers tackled the broad topic under the hot sun to a small but engaged audience at the Mississippi Mug Bean and Brew House in downtown Dubuque.
"Today we are exercising the freedom to assemble, one of the most important freedoms. We are buying our freedom today," said event co-organizer Chad Witthoeft, of Rock is Dead Records, as he opened the festival. "Nobody has a monopoly on freedom and it takes maintenance."
Organizers invited all political parties fielding candidates in Iowa to participate and speak on the topic of freedom. In between, local bands and musicians played sets.
"We invited every party because free-dom is for everybody. It's not a partisan issue," said Mary Loney Bichell, owner of the Mississippi Mug.
Daryl Northrop, of Des Moines, a Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, praised the "informal, non-confrontational" demeanor of the event. It was his first visit to Dubuque and he was pleased that a number of people stopped at his table to pick up campaign buttons and Green Party literature.
"I welcome any chance to make sure Iowans are better informed and know they have a choice," said Northrop, whose speech focused on social, economic and political freedoms....
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